State v. Stewart

I need to make clear at the outset that I support the prior decisions of this Court holding that an expert may provide evidence on the battered woman’s syndrome when a defendant asserts self-defense in a homicide prosecution. I believe such evidence is critical in domestic abuse situations where a spouse is forced to protect herself from imminent death or serious bodily injury. The facts of this case did not present an assertion of self-defense, or imminent death or serious bodily harm to the defendant.1

In June of 2009, the decedent in this case, Sammy Stewart, was lying in a hospital bed…